Long Live Clan Hightopp
by CrazyCabernet
Summary: Kyla's always known she was nothing like the other girls. She's always believed her mother's claims about her father, who has been absent for her entire life. She always believed Alice's stories about Underland. And now she's going there. Alone. To find her father and deliver her mother's note to him. Now, if only getting Back Up was easy, Tarrant's life would finally be complete.
1. Kyla of Londonland

**AN: Okay, so my first AiW story, The Luck of an Orphan, doesn't seem to be blowing over too well with the community. It's gotten over a hundred views, yet not a single REview, favorite, or follow, so I'm highly discouraged on that one.**

**Which is why I've decided to start over and try again with this one! :D  
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**Kyla's name is Scots-Celtic, and its meaning will be stated in a later chapter by none other than Hatta himself, and translations to all Celtic and/or Gaelic words, phrases, etc. will be listed at the end of the chapter. Yes, I know that these languages have funny spellings, but if you're not sure how to pronounce something, just do what I do and read it how you think it's pronounced. Some of them, however, I do have the pronounciations for, and those will be provided along with translations.  
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**Kyla's name, for example, is pronounced "kI-lah," and the original Gaelic spelling is believed to be "Kila."  
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**Now, without further ado, READ ON, MY PRETTIES, AND PLEASE REVIEW THIS ONE, I AM BEGGING YOU!  
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Thirteen-year-old Kyla was very confused. She'd always believed her mother's stories about a place called Underland, and she'd always believed her mother's claims that her father, who Kyla had never met, was a man known to everyone as the Mad Hatter, but whose true name was Tarrant Hightopp. Nobody but Kyla and the Chattaway sisters had ever believed any of Alice's claims and stories about Underland and its inhabitants.

She'd always believed them, yes. But never in a thousand years would it have ever crossed her mind that she would one day actually be _going_ there, and without her mother, no less.

And yet, here she was, sneaking into the Ascots' garden in the dead of night with a letter her mother had written tucked into her coat pocket as she moved on silent feet towards the grove of trees that Alice and Kyla had always seen as being more like a forest than a grove. She paused in the shadows of the gazebo where Hamish Ascot had once proposed to Alice-the very thought had always made Kyla giggle-to catch her breath and examine the map her mother had drawn for her showing the path to the rabbit hole as Alice remembered it from that day.

After she was breathing a little more evenly and felt confident in her ability to find the way, Kyla wrapped her coat around herself more tightly, then took off into the trees. She leapt over rocks and tree roots, dodged around various plants, and ducked under low branches as she hurried along. After several moments of this, she suddenly tripped over the root of a tree that was much bigger than any of the others she'd come across thus far.

Upon furthur examination, she found a large hole at the base of the trunk and peered in. She thought she saw something glinting in the darkness, and so, with hardly a thought about it, she put her feet into the hole and pushed with the heels of her hands, sending herself plummeting downwards into the earth.

She didn't scream. She was too busy looking about herself in wonder to take any notice of the fact that she was plunging further and futher down. There were objects all around her, just as her mother had described! She looked down and saw a light, and the next thing she knew, she'd crashed through a hard surface and landed on another with a dull _thump. _She sat up, only to find that she was upside down, just as Alice had always said. In another moment or so, she'd fallen to the floor with another slightly muffled thud.

"Who're you?" a female voice asked in a thick Cockney accent. Kyla sat up and pushed her flaming orange curls out of her eyes, then blinked and looked around for the speaker. The only other being present was a white dormouse in a pink dress, standing with its little arms crossed on top of a glass table beside a bottle with a strangely colored liquid inside and a label attached to the neck that read _Drink Me. _Pishalver, her mother had always called it. And the cake next to it that said _Eat Me_ was what Alice referred to as Upelkuchen. Which meant the dormouse must have been none other than Mallymkin herself.

"My name is Kyla," the girl said. "Are you Mallymkin?"  
"Wot's it to ya?" the mouse demanded, hands moving to her hips. "Can you take me to the Mad Hatter?" Kyla asked as she rose to her knees and leaned forward, green eyes widening with eagerness. "Tarrant Hightopp of Witzend? Alice Kingsleigh sent me, I've got a letter for him, it's urgent! Please, Mally, you've got to help me find him, I'm his daughter!"

Now it was Mally's turn to have wide eyes, but out of shock rather than excitement. "His _wot?!"_

"His daughter! Alice Kingsleigh is my mother, she sent me down here to find my father and give him a letter! Please, you have to believe me, I beg of you! Mum says he's her last hope, and even though I'm not entirely sure what she means by that, I know it's important, so please! _Please!"_

Mally studied her closely for several moments. Finally, she said, "Fine. I'll take ya to 'im. I ain't sure I really believe ya, but I can't deny that ya _do_ look like 'im an awful lot, so I'll get ya to see ol' 'Atta." Kyla smiled in relief. "Thank you," she said. "You can't imagine what this means to me, thank you so much, I'm in your debt."

"Enough talk already!" Mally said, leaping off the table. "Grab that key there an' put it in-No, not _that _door, ya daffy! _This _door ovah 'ere! An' leave tha' Pishalver an' Upelkuchen alone!"

Kyla frowned in confusion. "But Mum always said that-"

"This is a diff'rent key than the one that was 'ere when Alice came! Mirana 'ad it switched with one that'll lead dire'ly to the Tulgey Wood so that when Alice came back, she wouldn't 'ave to go through all tha' shrinkin' and growin' again, plus it's not as long of a walk to get to Thack's 'ouse where the tea table's all set up."

Kyla looked from the key she held to the door that Mally was standing in front of. Then she grinned. "Callou, callay," she breathed, putting the key into the lock and turning until she heard it click. Mally blinked in surprise upon hearing the girl say this, hesitating for a moment before snapping out of it and hurrying out the door after Kyla.

* * *

"Wait 'ere."  
Kyla didn't dare disobey, so she stopped at the edge of the Tulgey Woods and watched silently as Mally scampered up to the long tea table that was really several diffent tables put together. It looked just as Alice had always described, everything all mismatched, a stack of books in one of the chairs, broken pieces of china scattered about.

And at the head of the table, seated in a high-backed chair with his arms crossed over his chest and head bowed so that that the brim of his hat covered most of his face, with wild, bright orange hair that stuck out from beneath the top hat, was the man who could only be none other than the Mad Hatter himself.

This was who Mally went directly to, leaping from the tabletop onto his shoulder to whisper in his ear. His arms uncrossed themselves and moved toward his lap as he lifted his head and blinked his wide, vibrant green eyes. They roved around for a moment or two before finally coming to rest on Kyla, whose breath had caught in her throat upon seeing his face.

For several moments, nobody moved or made a sound as Tarrant and Kyla just stared at each other. Finally, Tarrant's lips moved, whispering something that was too quiet for anyone else to hear. Then he was suddenly on his feet. Mally jumped off his shoulder as he stood up on the table and made his way to the other end, where he then half-stepped and half-jumped onto the ground. He took another step or two, then Kyla was suddenly face-to-face with him.

They stared at each other for another moment or two before Kyla broke the silence.

_"__An bhfuil r__éiteach tú an t-ábhar cén fáth a bhfuil fiach dubh cosúil le deasc scríbhinn go fóill?"_

He broke into an enormous grin that showed off the gap in his teeth, not unlike the one Kyla had, though perhaps wider than hers was. "Callou, callay!" he cried, sweeping her into his arms to hug her tightly. "It's true, then! Alice hasn't forgotten us again, you're proof of that, you are!"

"Forgotten!" Kyla exclaimed. "Good Lord, no, of course not! Exactly the opposite, in fact! She talks about you all the time, about this whole place, but nobody believes her except me and the Chattaway twins! They've locked her up and won't let her out, they think she's stark raving mad, and not the good kind, either! That's why she sent me in the first place. She told me to find you and give you this."

She pulled the letter out of her coat pocket and handed it to the father she'd always believed was real even when no one else did or would. He unfolded it, and the more he read, the deeper his frown got. "Slurvish guddlehr's scuts, tha lot ov 'em!" he shouted in a Scottish brogue, making Kyla jump in surprise. "'Ow dare theh! Ah soreleh wud'nae tollahrehte annehone tha' has'nae made Alice's life annehthen' bu' tha perfehct it ough'a be'hn! Slukring urpal slackush SCRUM-"

"'Atta!" Mally shouted.  
He blinked. "Thank you," he said hoarsely. "I'm fine." He looked around, then quickly folded up the letter and shoved it into his pocket. "Well," he said, voice back to normal, "this is most terrible indeed, we absolutely must do something to fix it right away! Unfortunately, Nivens is the only one who knows how to go Aboveground without the use of a potion, and there isn't one that can take us there, at least not as far as I'm aware. Except for Jabberwocky blood, of course, but that technically is not acutally a potion, and besides, there isn't any to be found, seeing how Mirana only collected the one vial and Alice used that to go back home, and then I was going to sneak out and get some more, but the beast's body was disposed of before I had the chance-"

"'Atta!"  
"I'm fine."  
"Are you sure there's not some other way?" Kyla asked. "I mean, Mum said that on the day she boarded the ship to leave for China, a blue butterfly landed on her shoulder, and to this very day, she swears up and down that it was Absolem! He's smart, right, why can't we ask him? Or Nivens! If he's always coming and going between here and Aboveground, surely he can show us how he does it, right? There has to be _some _way! Mum needs your help, she needs all our help!"

Hatta stood there with a thoughtful look on his face for several moments. Finally, he said, "We shall ride to Marmoreal and show Mirana the letter from Alice and then we shall have Nivens show us how to get to Londonland so that we may rescue Alice and bring her back home to Underland with us."

"Don't we need horses to ride, though?" Kyla asked. Her father grinned. "Of course not, my dear!" he said cheerfully. "Why on earth would such a thing be necessary when the Bandersnatch is so willing to enlist its services to us?" Having said this, he reached into an inner pocket on his coat and pulled out what looked like a whistle carved from some sort of wood that Kyla didn't recognize.

"This whistle," he said, "was carved from the wood of a tumtum tree and enchanted by the White Queen herself not long after the Frabjous Day. It will bring the Bandersnatch straight to anyone who blows it, just so long as that person's intentions for doing so will not bring about harm to anyone. Mirana gave it to me for safe-keeping, and also so that I could give it right to Alice just as soon as she came back to Underland again."

He blew on it, then put it back in the pocket he'd taken it out of. After a moment or so, there was a loud roar in the distance, then a huge beast came crashing through the trees and skidded to a stop only a few feet from the group. Kyla stumbled backwards as it let out another roar, but the Hatter put his hands on her shoulders before she could fall.

"That's the Bandersnatch?" she whispered in awe. Hatta smiled. "The very beast that your mother rode into battle on the Frabjous Day," he said quietly. Kyla stared up at it in wonder. Hatta led her over to it, then lifted her from the ground to help her climb onto its back. He did the same for Mally and Thackery before climbing on himself.

"To Marmoreal, you frumious rascal!" he shouted. The Bandersnatch let out another roar, then took off into the woods again. Kyla gasped at the sudden jolt she felt when it started moving, instinctively leaning forward and wrapping her arms tightly around her father's waist so she wouldn't fall off.

She was utterly amazed.

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**AN: Here's the only translation for this chapter, as promised:  
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**_An bhfuil r__éiteach tú an t-ábhar cén fáth a bhfuil fiach dubh cosúil le deasc scríbhinn go fóill: _ **"Have you solved the matter of why a raven is like a writing desk yet?"**  
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**When I typed the phrase "figured out" into the translator, for some reason the word "figured" didn't get translated, so I had to come up with some other way to ask the question that didn't use that word, and that was the only thing I could come up with, so yeah. :/  
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**ANYWAY, I am like BEGGING you to PLEEEEAAAAASE review this, because like I said, my other AiW one hasn't gotten ANY reviews and I got seriously discouraged with it, but I'm extremely proud of what I've got on this one so far, so PLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAASE!  
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**Disclaimer: I am a young adolescent female being that resides in the state within our fair Union known as Texas. I am neither a crazy-haired, nutball genius of a movie director, nor am I a dead British author who spent his time making up nonsensical stories about nonsensical lands and beings for the amusement of small female children. ERGO, I don't own anything. XD  
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	2. Of Family History

**AN: Okay, no reviews for the first chapter, but it's only been a day, so I'm hoping that'll change. In the meantime, here's chapter two for ya! Translations will, again, be at the end, just as they will for every chapter that they're going to be needed in. This is also the chapter where Hatta tells Kyla what her name means and she gets to learn a little bit about her family history. **

**It was REALLY fun and cool for me to write this one just because of the father-daughter dynamics between Tarrant and Kyla that are going on so heavily in here! I absolutely LOVED getting to write this chapter just because of that one thing all by itself, it was just the coolest thing for me to write.**

**Oh, yeah, and by the way, I OWN NOTHING AND DENY EVERYTHING! XD  
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"Alice! Alice, oh, Alice, come quickly!"

Alice's head snapped up at the urgency in her sister's voice. She snapped her book shut and left it on the window seat as she hurred down the stairs, stopping on the landing and leaning on the railing. "Margaret!" she cried. "Margaret, what is it, what's wrong?!"

"It's Kyla!" Margaret said. "She's disappeared, we can't find her!"  
Alice blinked, then let her muscles slowly relax. "I know," she said simply. "I sent her off."

Helen whirled around to face her younger daughter. "What?! Where to, and why?!" she demanded. "To Underland," Alice replied calmly. "I wrote a letter and told her to take it to her father. He's probably taking her to Marmoreal even as we speak. Either that, or she's being taken to him by Chess or the Tweedles."

Helen rolled her eyes up towards the ceiling. "Alice Marie Kingsleigh," she said, "how many times must I tell you that there is no such place and no such people? I do not dismiss the possibility that 'Mad Hatter' is merely some sort of nickname of her father's-"

"It is! Ever since before he and I met, everyone's called-"  
_"However,"_her mother interrupted sternly. "I find it simply impossible to believe that such a place as you have described exists anywhere. It is entirely outside the realm of possibility, as are many of the people and creatures that you insist you've met there. I continue to long for the day you'll finally come to your senses and tell us the truth about Kyla's father and how you came to be carrying his child without being married to him."

Alice considered her next words carefully before speaking. "May I tell you my version of it, then?" she asked quietly. "I think it's the only part of the story I haven't told anyone else before, at least not anyone besides Kyla. I'd very much like to share it with you both if you'll let me."

Margaret looked at Helen. "May she, Mother?" she asked softly. "I've always been rather curious about it, to tell you the truth. And really, what harm can come from it? I mean, she's told us practically everything else about it all, so why not go ahead and let her tell us this part, as well? I don't see anything wrong with it by this point."

Helen hesitated, then sighed. "Oh, very well," she said. "Come down here and tell us about it." Alice smiled as she came down the rest of the stairs and sat down in the parlor with her mother and sister, she on a chaise, Margaret on a loveseat, and Helen in an armchair with the sampler she'd been working on lately, sewing as she listened to her daughter's story.

"Well," Alice began, "I had just slain the Jabberwocky, you see, and Mirana had given me the vial of its blood. As you know, Hatta said that I could stay, and I told him that it was a crazy, mad, wonderful idea. As I was about to drink the blood, though, I stopped and closed the vial back up. Then I said to him, 'Well...I suppose I could stay just a little bit longer. I don't see any harm in just another day or two.' So that's what I did.

"I gave the vial to Mirana for safe-keeping until I was ready to use it, and we all went back to Marmoreal and celebrated. Hatta taught me how to Futterwacken, and I also learned a dance called the Lobster Quadrille. Well, the next day, Mally stopped by my bedroom on her way to have morning tea with Thack and Hatta, and she asked me if I'd like to join them. I told her I would love to join them, so I followed her outside to a garden terrace where the tea table was all set up. Hatta and Thack were there, of course, and so was Mirana, the Tweedles, Nivens, Chess, and Bayard, too.

"We all had an absolutely lovely time together, and then afterwards, when everyone else had left, I asked Hatta about the kilt he'd been wearing in battle the day before, and he told me that a long time ago, many centuries back, the first Hightopps to settle in Witzend, which is the western part of Underland where he and Thack were both born, the first Higtopps to settle there, he said, were from Scotland.

"Now, this was back when the Celts and Gaels were living there and in Ireland, mind you, so they had the pagan beliefs that no longer exist today, so it wasn't nearly as rare for an Abovegrounder to somehow end up in Underland as it is today, because back then, they believed that Underland was what those old Celtic and Gaelic legends and such call the Otherworld, where Faeries and the Good People were from.

"And you know how in some of the legends, when someone finds their way into the Otherworld, they end up staying? Well, that's how the Hightopps ended up in Witzend. An ancesetor of Hatta's, a Gael, he found his way into Underland, and he ended up deciding to stay because he fell in love, and he and his wife settled in what ended up becoming Witzend, and over time, a village came up in the area around them, and it was named after them, and that's where the Hightopps had lived ever since, at least until the Horunvendush Day when Iracabeth took over and killed them all except for Hatta, who managed to escape.

"Anyway, Hatta was explaining all this to me, and we ended up just walking all over Marmoreal for pracitcally the entire day, going back and forth asking each other questions about our families and histories and so on, and I learned an awful lot about Scotland and the Gaels, because his family had kept all the pagan beliefs and the legends and things for all that time, so he told me some of the myths and legends and about different types of Faeries the Gaels believed in, like banshees and the like.

"We were having such a wonderful time together, I don't think either one of us ever wanted it to end, but at the same time, we both knew that I would be leaving the next day, and it made us both very sad. So...I think that's why...after dinner, when he took me upstairs to show me his workshop...It was...in a room adjacent to his bedroom...I think that's why...

"And then I had promised them all I would be back...'I'll be back before you know it,' those were my exact words to him...He was afraid I wouldn't remember, and I said to him, 'Of course I will, how could I ever forget?' And then Kyla came along...I hope he hasn't been waiting up for me...I hope he doesn't think I forgot again or broke my promise deliberately...I hope he knows I love him too much to ever hurt him that way on purpose..."

She frowned sadly at her hands, which were resting in her lap, palms turned up. Then she began to sing softly in her voice like a meadowlark's with its soothing lilt.

_"We'll meet yet again, my loved fair one, when o'er us_  
_The sky shall be bright, and the bower shall be green,_  
_And the visions of life shall be lovely before us_  
_As the sunshine of summer that sleeps o'er the scene._  
_The woodlands are sad when the green leaves are fading,_  
_And sorrow is deep when the dearest must part,_  
_But for each darker woe that our spirit is shading_  
_A joy yet more bright shall return to the heart."_

* * *

_"We'll meet yet again, when the pain, disconcerting_  
_The peace of our minds in a moment like this,_  
_Shall melt into nought, like the tears of our parting,_  
_Or live but in mem'ry to heighten our bliss._  
_We have loved in the hours when a hope scarce could find us;_  
_We've loved when our hearts were the lightest of all,_  
_And the same tender tie that has bound still shall bind us,_  
_When the dark chain of fate shall have ceased to enthral._

_"We'll meet yet again, when the spirit of gladness_  
_Shall breathe o'er the valley, and brighten its flowers,_  
_And the lone hearts of those who have long been in sadness_  
_Shall gather delight from the transport of ours;_  
_Yes, thine are the charms, love, that never can perish,_  
_And thine is the star that my guide still shall be,_  
_Alluring the hope in this soul that shall cherish_  
_Its life's dearest treasures, to share them with thee."_

Tarrant looked around sadly as he stood on the very same balcony where he and Alice had spoken together the night before the Frabjous Day. He'd taken his top hat off and left it on the nightstand in the bedroom he always stayed in when he was at Marmoreal. They very same bedroom where he and Alice had...

"Hatta?"

He turned. Kyla was standing in the doorway behind him, her slender form silhouetted against the light from the room inside. His workshop, to be specific. He smiled. "You may call me _dadaí,_you know," he said softly. "I shan't mind in the least. In fact, it would make me very happy if you called me that. Or something else along those lines if you prefer, it makes no difference to me at all."

Kyla smiled, and he noticed the gap between her teeth for the first time. He giggled. "What?" she asked. "You've got the gap!" he said. She tilted her head to the side slightly. "I've got the what?"

"The gap!" he repeated, pointing to his own. "That gap between your teeth! Hightopps have had that gap for so long that nobody can even remember who the first one was to have it. It's just gotten passed down through generation after generation for centuries, it's as if it's just so stubborn that it absolutely refuses to leave us alone. I remember Mirana telling me once that it's almost as if the silly thing had singled out the Hightopp clan just for its own amusement, and that's why it refuses to go away and stop showing up in all our teeth. It's why we both have that pesky slight lisp when we talk, all of my brothers and sisters and cousins and aunts and uncles and all my other relations had that lisp, too, because every single one of them had the gap."

Kyla laughed. "Mum says that the gap has always been one of her favorite things about you," she said as she leaned on the railing next to him. "She calls it...Oh, what was that word she always uses? Oh! Endearing, that's it. She says it's, and I quote, 'one of the most endearing things about darling Tarrant.' Those are her exact words."

She sighed. "Grandmother always scolds her when she talks about this place or you or anyone else from here. Aunt Margaret is the only one who's ever shown even the smallest hint of belief at what she says. And I'm the only one who openly believes all of it. Maybe partly because I've always wanted to believe that my father was really out there somewhere, even if he was part of a world that everyone insists is so far outside the realm of possibility. And now I know that he really was and is."

"Just how old are you, my dear?" Tarrant asked. Kyla brushed a stray curl out of her eyes. "I just turned thirteen this past August," she said. Hatta didn't respond right away. "It's been longer for us," he said quietly. "Almost fifteen years down here. I suppose Time is slower Aboveground than it is here in Underland. Or perhaps he just doesn't behave the same way he does here."  
"Or maybe there's two of him," Kyla said. "You know, like an alter ego, or a brother."  
"I'd never thought of that before! What an awfully clever girl you are, just like Alice!"

After a moment, Hatta spoke again. "I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about what I was going to say to her when she returned, you know. And just when I finally reach a point where I think I've got it all figured out, along you come in her place. It saddens me greatly, but at the same time, I am happier than I have been in many years, because not only does your arrival here mean that Alice hasn't forgotten any of us, but it also means that there is still hope for her return and that the Hightopp clan shall not die after all as I have feared it would for so long. And because I had always rather wanted a daughter someday, in all honesty. And your name!"

"What about it?"  
"Kyla! In Scots-Celtic, that means 'comely,' or 'lovely.' I had a cousin named Kyla. You mother must have remembered that from the day we spent wandering around Marmoreal together talking and telling each other stories about our families and the like."

_"Ach shíl mé go raibh ár sinsear Gaeilge,"_she said, frowning in confusion. "They were," he replied. Her frown deepened. "But then why is my name Celtic instead of Gaelic?" she asked. "Well," Hatta said, tugging at the lace on the cuff of one of his sleeves. "Some of our family's stories give reason to believe that we may also have had some Scots-Celt ancestors even father back in our history. Hightopps have had both Gaelic and Celtic names for as long as we've been in Witzend, along with the occasional English or Outlandish, as well."

He grinned at her. _"Labhraíonn tú an teanga Sean maith go leor, tá a fhios agat,"_he said. She blushed lightly. "Mum and I made it our job to learn more about the culture and such. We started poring over absolutely every single thing we could get our hands on about the language, the people, the legends, the myths, the beliefs, and so on and so forth. I've basically grown up on two different languages. That one, and English."

She smirked wryly and rolled her eyes. "Grandmother absolutely hates it when we start speaking in it," she said, laughing a bit. "It drives her up the wall with irritation, probably because she hasn't got the faintest idea what we're saying and she's afraid that we're conspiring against her or plotting an escape or some such. She's forbidden us both from using it, but we've never paid any mind to it at all, we just pretend it never happened."

"As you rightly should!" Hatta exclaimed. "To forbid the use of such a beautiful language, the very thought! Why, that's like telling me to stop making hats!"  
"That's what Mum always says!" Kyla said.

Hatta studied her fondly. "You are a Hightopp through and through," he said after a moment. "There is not a single doubt in my mind about that. As such, I do believe it is high time for you to fully embrace your heritage. You've clearly already done so very much, but I'm afraid that there is one thing that goes along with doing so that your mother is unfortunately unable to provide you with. I, however, have everything we need to do exactly that."

"And what exactly is this thing we'll be doing?" Kyla asked. Hatta grinned broadly. "Why, dressing you like a proper Hightopp, of course!" he said cheerfully.

"You see, my dear, on the Horunvendush Day, when Iracabeth attacked and killed all the rest of our clan, after everything was said and done, I went back to the village and went through all the ruins looking for things I could salvage. I didn't find much, mind you, seeing how most everything had been burned beyond any hope of recognition, but I did manage to find a few things that had belonged to various relatives of mine, and as it just so happens, my sister's wardrobe had somehow survived and was standing there in the middle of what used to be the house I lived in with her and our parents and the rest of our siblings. It was charred, of course, but for the most part unharmed, and when I opened it up, nearly everything inside had been ruined by the heat except, by some miracle, for one of her favorite outfits, which I quickly grabbed and took with me."

As he'd been saying all of this, Tarrant had led Kyla back inside, taking her through his workshop and into the adjoining bedroom. Now, he knelt down at the foot of the bed and reached underneath it, dragging out a wooden trunk that reminded Kyla somewhat of a treasure chest, except this one had an elaborate carving on the top. From where she stood, it just looked like a tangled mess of slightly raised up lines inside a portion of lid that had been carved into the shape of a shield and removed, leaving a large shield right in the center of the lid, paler than the rest of the wood.

When she moved closer, however, the lines began to arrange themselves into a clear image, almost as if by magic, until finally, it became a beautiful and elaborate coat of arms with their family name on it. The Latin motto at the top read _Insania est Genium._

Hatta undid the latches that were keeping the chest shut and lifted the lid. "Everything I managed to salvage that day is in here," he said. "And if I'm not mistaken, Nettenia's clothes should be-Ah, here we are!"

Grinning, he held up a pale green long-sleeve blouse not altogether unlike his own, but without lace on the edges of the cuffs and, obviously, a different color than his purple one. He laid it out on the bed, then reached into the trunk again, this time removing a blue waistcoat with purplish swirls on it, followed by an emerald green skirt that looked as if it would probably reach down to about Kyla's ankles, and finally, a pair of glovelets that looked remarkably similar to the blue-and-black ones she'd seen her mother wear on several occasions in the past, only these ones were green-and-purple.

Hatta laid all of this out on the bed for her, then frowned. "Something's missing," he said. "Oh! I know!" He knelt down again, and after a bit more rummaging, he pulled out an indigo scarf made of silk. "This can be worn in many different ways," he said as he set it down beside the glovelets. "The way I wear mine, as a regular scarf, around one's head, as a sash, in one's hair, or any other way that pops into your pretty little head!"

Kyla smiled as she gently ran her hand over the fabric of the skirt. "It's lovely," she said. "Thank you so much, Dadaí, it's beautiful. Is there someplace I can go to put it on?"

"Right over there, my dear," Hatta said, pointing to a changing screen over in the corner. Kyla grinned as she gathered the clothes up and hurried over to the screen. There was a knock at the door, and Hatta turned. "Yes, who is it?" he called.  
"Hatta, open up, you'll want to hear this."

He rushed over to the door and pulled it open. "Mirana!" he cried. "What's happened? Have you found a way to get us Aboveground yet? How much longer until I get to see my Alice again?"

"We're going back to London?!" Kyla said excitedly, running into view dressed in her long-dead aunt's clothing, the scarf tied around her waist like a sash.

"We're going back?!" she repeated.  
"Not yet, I'm afraid," the Queen said. Hatta's smile disappeared at almost the exact same moment as Kyla's. "...What?" Kyla said.

_"What?"_Hatta said even louder.

Mirana sighed and lowered her eyes, shoulders dropping a bit. She lifted her eyes again and looked at her Royal Hatter. "May I come in?" she asked. Hatta nodded and the Queen stepped into the room, closing the door softly behind herself. She didn't speak right away, tugging at various parts of her dress and fluttering her pale, slender fingers, biting her lower lip, sighing, letting her eyes wander about the room, then finally sitting down on the bed. She folded her hands in her lap and stared at them for several moments before she spoke.

"We found a way to speak with her," she said quietly. Kyla drew in a sharp breath and Hatta's eyes widened. "Using magic similar to that of the Looking Glass. We can't find a way to actually _get_to her, though, that's the problem. Oh, Hatta, I can't even begin to tell you how much she seems to miss you. She all but broke down into tears more than once, the poor dear."

"May we speak with her?" Hatta asked. Mirana nodded. "Of course. Why do you think I came up here in the first place? Oh, and by the way, Kyla, dear. You look absolutely lovely in that outfit. You are one of the truest Hightopps I have ever laid eyes on."

* * *

**AN: First, the translations, then I'll tell you about the song:  
**

**_Dadaí _is Gaelic for "dad," and it's pronounced just like the word "daddy." The word for "father" is something else entirely, and I can't remember what it is right now, but I just wanted to make that clear for the record. P:****  
**

**_Ach shíl mé go raibh ár sinsear Gaeilge_: **"But I thought our ancestors were Gaelic."

**_Labhraíonn tú an teanga Sean maith go leor, tá a fhios agat:_ **"You speak the Old Language quite well, you know."_  
_

**And now, for those of you wondering, the song that Alice and Hatta sang is a traditional Scottish song called _We'll Meet Yet Again _that was written by Henry Scott Riddell, who was raised near Langholm, in Dumfries and Galloway, and he was aware from an early age about the frequent conflicts between the Scottish and English. This song is about the, to quote the site I found it on, "sorrowful partings" involved in this, where, and I quote, "participants might only meet beyond the grave."**

**The song was made famous during World War II by the "Forces Sweetheart," one Miss Vera Lynn. Being a song of parting and hope of coming together again in the future, it very naturally struck a chord with a lot of people in those days.  
**

**Needless to say, it seemed appropriate for this story given the situation.  
**

**Hope I haven't depressed anybody.  
**

**-Maggie  
**


	3. Six Impossible Things

**AN: Not much to say this time, so...yeah...just...enjoy, I guess.**

**Disclaimer: Kyla's mine, but that's it. Everything/everyone else belongs to their respectful owner(s).  
**

* * *

"Mum!"  
"Kyla! Oh, Kyla, thank Lord you're alright, I was beginning to worry about you!" Alice smiled sadly. "Dear Lord, just look at you! You look more like your father than ever in those clothes, where on earth did you get them?"

"I gave them to her."  
"...Hatta...Is it really you?"

Hatta put his palm up against the glass and smiled sadly as Alice put her own hand directly over his. "Hello, love," he said quietly. "You're even prettier than I remember. I miss you very much."  
"I miss you, too, Hatta. Every single day. I think about you all the time. Oh, please forgive me!"

"What on earth for?"  
"For leaving! It was the worst mistake of my entire life, I spend every waking moment wishing I could go back in time and stop myself from drinking that blasted stuff! I wish I'd thrown it into Gummer's Slough while I had the chance, then none of this ever would have happened and Kyla would've had her father from the very start!"

"I've got him now, Mum," Kyla said. "And we'll all be together soon enough, I promise. Absolem and Nivens have been helping Mirana look for a way to get me and Dadaí up there practically all day ever since we got here this morning with Thack and Mally."

She smiled. "We rode on the Bandersnatch, you know!" she said. "Dadaí's got a magic whistle that summons it, he's been holding onto it for years, waiting for you to come back so he could give it to you!"

"Oh, Kyla, sweetheart..."  
"You named her after my cousin!" Hatta said suddenly. "You remembered what I told you and named her after my cousin, didn't you?" he asked. Alice grinned sadly and nodded. "I knew how much it would have meant to you for her to be named after someone from your family, and I remembered thinking what a beautiful name that was when you were telling me about them, so I chose Kyla."

"It's Scots-Celt for 'lovely,' you know," he said. Her smile widened. "I had no idea!" she cried. "It fits her perfectly, though, doesn't it?"  
"My thoughts exactly!"

"Hatta," Mirana said, "I absolutely hate to have to tear you apart, but I'm afraid I can only keep the connection alive for so long. You have three more minutes, at the very most. I'm terribly sorry, darlings, you have no idea how upset I am to have to end it so soon, I know how much it means to all of you."

Alice and Hatta looked at each other sadly, then Alice finally let her tears spill over as she sobbed. "I love you!" she cried. "I love you both so much, more than I can say! Take care of her, Hatta, keep her safe. I want both of you in one piece when we see each other in person. And Kyla, whatever you do, don't eat anything that Thackery makes in the kitchen, there's no telling what he puts in there. I love you both. Come back to me safe."

"Tarrant-!" Mirana cried.

And then Alice was gone.

* * *

Alice turned away from her vanity mirror in tears. There was a knock on her bedroom door and she looked up as it opened, only to see her two closest and most trusted friends in the world, Faith and Fiona Chattaway. They were both looking at her in obvious concern. "Alice?" one of them said. "Are you alright, what's the matter?"

Alice motioned for them to come in, and one of them closed the door as they did so, sitting down on the windowseat when Alice indicated for them to do just that before she herself moved to sit on her bed, sighing heavily as she wiped her eyes. "Thank you," she said quietly. The twins exchanged glances, then turned back to their friend. "Whatever for?" they asked at the same time.

Alice smiled at them a bit sheepishly. "I'm Faith," the one on the right said, picking up on the unspoken question. "And that's Fiona. Now what on earth are you on about now, you silly girl?"

"For believing me," Alice replied. "About Underland and Hatta and everything. You're the only ones besides Kyla who openly do, and you have no idea how much that means to me. How much it always has meant to me. I'm not mental like everyone thinks I am, there really is such a place as Underland, and Hatta really does exist, and so does everyone else. I really did slay the Jabberwocky, and Hatta and I really did-"

She cut herself off abruptly, but neither twin was left wondering what the end of that sentence was supposed to be. They were both very bright, and knew perfectly well what Alice had been about to say. The blonde sighed again. "She's the spitting image of him, you know," she said. "Kyla, I mean. Same hair and eyes and gap in the teeth and everything."

"Speaking of Kyla," Faith said, "where is she? I haven't seen her around."  
"I know. That's because I sent her off on an errand. I don't expect her back for another few days."

"What sort of errand, where to?" Fiona asked.  
"To Underland," Alice replied. "I wrote a letter and told her to take it to Hatta. They're at Marmoreal now. In fact, I was talking to them just before you came in a few moments ago. Mirana figured out a way to get a connection between here and Marmoreal using magic, I was using the mirror to speak with them. Mirana kept the spell going for as long as she could, but..."

She sighed, then frowned. "Wait a minute," she said. "I'm the White Queen's Champion. I slew the Jabberwocky and defeated the Bloody Red Queen. I don't have to stand for this if I don't want to."  
"Stand for what?" the twins asked.

"This!" Alice said, throwing her arms out to the sides. "All of this! This being locked up and kept under surveillance twenty-four hours a day, this being a prisoner in my own house! My father used to think of six impossible things before breakfast, you know, and Kyla and I have been doing exactly that for practically her entire life. I did it on the Frabjous Day as I went into battle to help give myself the courage I needed to fight, and I can feel some coming on right now!"

She closed her eyes, then slowly stood up. "Six impossible things," she murmured. "Six impossible things..." She opened her eyes.

"One: I can go back in time and stop myself from leaving Underland."

She yanked the blankets and pillows off her bed.

"Two: Kyla was born and raised in Witzend, just like her father."

She went to her wardrobe and threw the doors open, yanking sheets out of the drawers and off the shelves.

She started tying them together, including the one that had been on her bed.

"Three: Hatta wasn't the only Hightopp who escaped that day."

She let her hair down and shook it out.

"Four: I have physical proof that Underland exists and Mother has no choice but to believe!"

She yanked off all her jewelry and threw it onto the vanity table.

"Five: Iracabeth never took over and Mirana never lost her crown!"

She pulled her stockings off and threw them into the corner of the room.

"And six."

She tugged her shoes back onto her feet.

"I'm with my family at Marmoreal."

* * *

**AN: Yes, Alice is seriously going to incorporate the old "tying-the-sheets-together-and-dangling-them-out-the-window" routine in her escape plan, why? Because I'm just that cheesily cliche sometimes. -_- Yeah, I'm seriously that lame.**


	4. Magnizinst Marnie

**AN: I AM ON A ROLL, MUTHAH FRACKAHS! XD**

**Disclaimer: I'm getting lazy with these things, so just see last chapter XD PX  
**

* * *

"Dadaí? Who's Marnie and why is her name on this sheet of paper?"  
"Marnie of Queast! One of Mirana's cousins, the Blue Queen! Her birthday is in a few weeks, so I'm making her a hat for a present"

"You mean there's more than two queens?" Kyla asked. Hatta nodded. "Four of them, to be exact," he said. "Mirana, Iracabeth, Marnie, and Beradella. White, Red, Blue, and Black, of Marmoreal, Crims, Queast, and Snud, respectively. Marnie and Beradella are Mirana and Iracabeth's cousins, Beradella being Iracabeth's age and Marnie being the same as Mirana."

"Ah, yes, poor, silly, paranoid, little Magnizinst Marnie," Mirana said as she entered the room. "What you must understand about my cousin, dear Kyla, is that she's very skittish and rather paranoid about all sorts of things, even the smallest, most insignificant of them. The poor dear. She can't help it, really, it's just how she's always been."

"And what about the other one, Beradella?"  
"A righ' slurvish wretch, tha' one is," Hatta said as he fixed a rose onto the brim of a hat. "Took a fanceh tae meh awhile back, she did. Back beh'fore tha Bluddeh Behg Head took ovah, back when all tha rest of tha 'ightopps waer still alive. Go' a temper even worse'n tha Bluddeh Begh Head's, she does._ Daochan_ from_ ifrinn_an' enough tae match even tha' o' ol' Bla' Donal' 'imself, tha's whut me máthir use tae call it."

"Tarrant," Mirana said in a stern but gentle voice. "She's a bluddeh wretch an' ye know it, Mirahna! Ye an' Ah know it be'er'n annehone else! After whut she did tae poor Larahneh! Tae Malleh!"  
"What did she do to Mally?" Kyla asked slowly.

For a moment, nobody spoke. Finally, though, Mirana answered. "She killed Mally's sister."

* * *

**AN: HELLO! Am I evil? Sometimes the answer is YES, IN FACT, I AM. Is this a short chapter on purpose? YES, IN FACT, IT IS. But I'm posting again right after this, so don't fret your pretty little heads about it, darlings! n_n  
**

**___Daochan_: Anger  
**

**_Ifrinn: _Hell  
**

**Black Donald (which was said as Bla' Donal' due to Hatta's brogue): The devil, who, in Scottish mythology, can disguise himself as a mortal, but cannot disguise his cloven feet.  
**

**And if Marnie and Beradella sound familiar to anyone, it's because they both made their original appearances in the failure that is my firs AiW fic, the Luck of an Orphan. Beradella is basically just Bernadette Peters, cuz she looks JUST like Helena Bonham Carter in the face.  
**


	5. Mirana's Sorrow

**AN: This gets sad at the end, but please just try to bear with me, okay?**

**Disclaimer: See last chapter, cuz I've just gotten that dang lazy when it comes to doing this part! XD  
**

* * *

"Wait a minute," Kyla said. "Let me get this straight. So there's two other queens, Blue and Black, and one of them not only has a temper worse than the Red Queen's, but she one, used to fancy my father, and two, killed Mallymkin's sister? Is that what you're telling me?"

Hatta blinked and snapped out of his crazed state of mind. "She still does, I believe," he said. "Fancy me, that is. I don't think she ever really got over me, although I made it clear from the start that I never returned her interest. She was betrothed once, you know. He was killed on the Horunvendush Day along with so many others. She's kept her grief and rage over it bottled up inside herself all these years, and then one day it finally just..."

He looked up and met his daughter's eyes. "Popped out," he finished quietly. Turning back to the hat he was working on, he said, "I saw her just recently, you know. Thackery and I were looking for things we could try to make tea out of, and we got so distracted and carried away that we ended up going father than we usually do, and next thing we knew, we found ourselves way yadder beyond the Crossling in Snud, and then all of a sudden, one of Beradella's carriages came along down the road, and it stopped and the window opened, and there she was, smiling out at me."

"She's going to be here in a few weeks for Marnie's birthday celebration," Mirana said. "I absolutely dread the thought of it, but I had to invite her, otherwise she would've gone and made a huge fuss out of it and then nobody would ever hear the end of it. Oh, Tarrant, just imagine her reaction to Kyla!"

"I was rather hoping for Kyla and I to be Aboveground by then, actually," Tarrant said quietly. "Or better yet, for us to have gotten Alice back down here and for she and I to be-"

He stopped suddenly, tucking his chin down against his chest and sticking his lower lip out a bit. "Mirana?" he said. "Will you promise me something please?"  
"Of course, Tarrant, anything at all, just name it."

"...If for whatever reason, we're not able to find a way to get to Alice, promise me that you'll look after Kyla should anything ever happen to me."

"Don't say that, Dadaí!" Kyla cried, running over to him and throwing her arms around him. "I just found you," she said. "I don't ever want to lose you to anything like Mum had to." Tarrant looked at Mirana over the top of Kyla's head, his green eyes wide with a childlike look of sorrow in them. "Everyone else is dead," he said quietly. "Please, Mirana. Promise me you will. Please."

Mirana looked at the scene in front of her. Tarrant, her Royal Hatter and oldest friend, standing there next to an unfinished hat with his arms wrapped around his daughter, the only other living person to have Hightopp blood running through her veins, her face buried against his chest as she held onto him tightly, and the sad, broken look on Tarrant's face that reminded her so much of a small, helpless child...

It was almost too much for her heart to bear.

She could hear the hitch in her own voice as she spoke, trying not to cry at the sight.

"I promise."

* * *

**AN: I almost cried as I was writing this one, oh my gods! (PJO fan, can you tell?) I'm not done with the next chapter yet, I've hit a slightly awkward spot, but I'm working on getting around it, so I'll have that up ASAP. Also, countless thanks to whoever it is that put that little blue "1" next to the word "Favorites" in the Properties section of this story's little stats thingy when I go to check on it in Story Management, that one single favorite means the world to me after my first AiW story bombed the way it did, so who ever you are, THANK YOU TIMES INFINITY, I LOVE YOU FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER!**


	6. Brilittes

**AN: Okay, so this chapter is a little weird, and I'm not totally sure that even _I _completely understand what's going on here, so if you have questions about ANYTHING, please do not hesitate to ask, and I will do the best I can to answer them. **

**See, basically what happened here is I'd had this idea floating around in my head for a few weeks now of Kyla getting sick and hearing voices in her head and stuff, but when this came to me, Alice was there as well as Hatta, so I thought, "Huh, maybe that could be a potential sequal or something," but then I got stuck when I was trying to write this chapter, so I finally just went, "Eh, screw it," and that idea ended up becoming, well, what you're about to read, so...yeah. :/  
**

**Disclaimer: See last chapter  
**

* * *

_"...so pretty..."_  
_"...such a shame..."_  
_"...not your fault, it's..."_  
_"...Kyla...Kyla...Kyla...Kyla...'_

_Kyla. Kyla. Kyla! KYLA. KYLA!_

Kyla shrieked as she sat up in bed, lashing out at the empty air. "Stay away from me!" she cried. Hatta grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her face towards him. "It's alright, love," he whispered. "Whatever it was, it's over now, you were dreaming."  
"Dr...Dreaming? It wasn't...It...I don't...What...?"

"I heard you yelling, so I came to make sure you were alright." He frowned as he felt her forehead. "Are you feeling alright, my dear?" he asked. "You're quite flushed, and you feel very warm indeed." That was when Kyla realized how hot she was and how soaked she was in her own sweat. Stray curls were plastered to her forehead and her nightgown clung to her skin. She closed her eyes and gasped, feeling as if she was about to cry, the tears already building up behind her eyelids. When she opened them again, they spilled onto her cheeks, adding even more heat to her already warm face. She shook her head.

"I want Mum," she said. "I want..."  
"Wait right here, I'll go and get Mirana."

"No!"

Kyla grabbed his sleeve as he was about to get up. She clung to him and sobbed. "I don't want to be left alone, please don't go anywhere, Dadaí, please," she said breathily. Tarrant was torn. On the one hand, he knew she needed to be given a potion or something of some sort to help her feel better, but on the other hand, he also didn't want to leave her all by herself when she was so distraught. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. What to do, what on earth to do? Was this...Was this what it felt like, he wondered, to have paternal instincts for one's child?  
"Perhaps..._I_ can be of some assistance?" a voice asked.

Hatta looked up and breathed a mental sigh of relief. As irritating as the stupid creature was sometimes, Chessur did have excellent timing when it really counted. "I take it this is the girl I've heard so much about. Kyla, is it? Your daughter, correct?"  
"That doesn't matter right now, you insufferable cat, you!"

Kyla began to cough violently, then gasped for breath. Tarrant looked from his daughter to the floating cat. "Hurry and get Mirana, Chess, go!" he said. Chessur waved his tail in front of his face and vanished. Kyla grimaced against Hatta's chest. "Make them go away, Dadaí," she whimpered. Hatta frowned. "Who?" he asked. "Make who go away? I don't see anyone."

"The voices! They're...They're in my head, there's so many of them, they..." She drew in a few ragged breaths before she was able to continue. "They all talk at once, in English and Gaelic and Outlandish, they sing and recite poetry and argue with each other and all sorts of things. They won't...They won't shut up, they won't go away, they won't leave me alone, they..."

She drew her knees up to her chest and gripped her hair close to the roots. "Agh! Make it stop! They want to kill me, two of them are always talking about it, they tell me I have to die, make them go away, make them stop,_ please!"_

As she broke down into hysterical sobs, the door flew open and Mirana came rushing in carrying several bottles. She was followed by the Tweedles, one of whom was carrying a rather large bowl that had a big wooden spoon in it while his brother carried a few jars filled with various things. She put the bottles down on a round table that sat near the window. She motioned to the brothers to put their things down, as well, then gripped the edges of the table. "Hatta," she said, "come over here and help me move this closer to the bed, will you?"

Reluctantly, Hatta kissed the top of Kyla's head, then gently pulled himself away from her and did as Mirana had asked, after which he immediately sat back down with Kyla on the bed. Mirana felt the girl's head and face, then frowned in concern. "My word, Kyla, you're completely burning up. What in the world has happened to you, child?"

Kyla shook her head, gasping tearfully. "The voices...Please, Aunt Mirana, for the love of God, make them shut up, please! I can't sleep, they keep me awake all night, please just shut them up!"

"The first thing we need to do is bring your fever down, then we'll worry about the rest." She began uncorking bottles and unscrewing the lids on jars. "Tarrant," she said, "I need you to tell me absolutely everything you possibly can about what led up to this, the more I know, the easier it will be to figure out what might have caused this and figure out how to fix it. What has she been eating, where has she been spending time, who has she been speaking to...Even the smallest, most insignificant details could help me figure this out."

Tarrant shook his head. "She's been spending most of her time in my workshop with me, or out in the garden, or in here. I don't...Thackery...Mally...You and I, obviously..."  
"I met McTwisp when I was outside yesterday," Kyla rasped.

The Queen and her Hatter looked at each other. "Do you think perhaps...?"  
"It's possible he might have somehow picked up a germ or something from where ever it is he's been," Mirana said. Hatta's eyes began to swirl with color as his emotions fought against each other until finally settling on dark purple. "Where's 'e at?!" he shouted. "Tha gud-fer-nuthin' damn rabbit, Ah'll wring 'is bluddeh neck! Ah'll-"

"Tarrant, calm down! You're not helping anything by losing your senses and shouting at the top of your lungs like that, for goodness' sake! Stop it, just stop! 'Dee, 'Dum, run into the library and bring me some of the-"  
"On it!"

They were gone before anything else could be said. In the meantime, Mirana had finished mixing things together in the bowl, and she now picked it up and poured some of the mixture into the glass that had already been on the table, which she then handed to Kyla. "Drink this, it should bring your fever down," she said. Kyla obeyed, then sputtered and choked. "My God! What in the world did you put into that bowl, it tastes terrible!"  
"Medicine always does, I'm afraid."

"Anything I can do to be of assistance?" Chessur asked as he materialized next to Mirana's shoulder. "Go find McTwisp," the Queen said. "Bring him here as quickly as you can, tell him it's urgent. Don't worry, sweetheart, we'll figure this out and make it better as soon as possible, I promise."

* * *

"You asked for me, Your Majesty?"

Mirana stood and smoothed out her skirt. She glanced at Kyla, who had fallen back to sleep shortly after her fever broke, then put a finger to her lips and motioned out into the hallway. McTwisp, who was quite confused, followed obediently, then waited as Mirana quietly shut the door behind them. "Where have you been lately?" she asked.

The question took McTwisp slightly aback. "I, um..."  
"McTwisp," Mirana said. "It's very important that you tell me where you've been lately, Kyla is very sick and we're afraid she might have gotten it when the two of you spoke yesterday in the garden, I think you may have picked something up on your latest journey, something that you are immune to, maybe because you're a rabbit, maybe for some other reason, I honestly don't know, but the fact of the matter is that for whatever reason, you are immune to it, and sweet Kyla is not. Now, Tarrant is very naturally extremely upset about this, and I would not put it past him to do something rather unpleasant should he somehow manage to get his hands on you, so if I were you, I would be trying very hard right now to remember everywhere you've been since we last saw one another."

McTwisp's pink eyes had gotten very wide upon hearing that the Hatter currently possessed a vendetta against him, but he blinked and quickly shook himself out of it. "Q-Queast," he said. "I've been in Queast visiting the Blue Queen. I...I may have spent a bit of time in Snud, as well, in the vicinity of the Crossling, and very briefly stopped to get my bearings near, um...well...Gummer's Slough." It came out as more of a question than a statement and his voice got unusually high-pitched on the last two words. There was a shout of rage. The door flew open and Hatta came out, eyes such a dark shade of orange that they bordered on being red as he slammed the door behind himself.

"Ye bluddeh creature!" he shouted. "Ehf she dies, Ah swear on mah 'onehr as a 'ightopp, Ah'll-" Mirana smacked him. "Tarrant Lyall Hightopp!" she said. "Stop this nonsense _right_ now, do you hear me?! I will not tolerate this, understand? I will _not._ Kyla is not going to die, I am not going to let that happen. But you need to calm down, for lord's sake, Tarrant, because it is not helping me to help your daughter get any better, do you understand that?"

Hatta nodded, his face looking sort of pitiful. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I just...I-"  
"You don't have to apologize, Hatta, I understand. This is your little girl, you want her safe."  
"Yes, and the-"

"The bloodline, yes. I know how much that's always meant to you. And I also know that she is perhaps the only thing that gives us a chance of bringing Alice back, that gives you a chance to be with the woman you love, and I understand that she is currently the only link you have to that woman. I am not going to let her die, Tarrant, she means very much to me, as well. Believe me when I say that you are not the only one here who loves her. Just in the week or so that she's been here, I am able to say without any doubt in my mind that she has captured the hearts of many people in this court, not to mention the fact that Thackery seems to have taken quite a liking to her that honestly doesn't seem all that different from the affection he has for Mally."

"So what do you want me to do?"  
"Right now, I think the only thing you really can do is-"

From behind the closed door, Kyla screamed. Hatta was on the bed next to her in almost the same instant. She was screaming and sobbing as she thrashed around wildly, eyes bloodshot from her tears and pale face flushed a bright pink. Hatta managed to grab the sides of her face and get her to look him in the eyes. He spoke to her in a low voice, starting in English, but then stopping short before he even finished the first word, then switching to Gaelic. She nodded several times, then replied in the same language once he was finished. After she was done speaking, Hatta looked at Mirana with obvious worry in his eyes, which were a mixture of light gray and sulfur yellow.

"Brilittes," he said. Mirana raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" she asked. Hatta nodded. "I'm positive," he insisted. "It's just the same as when Edan got it all that time ago, it's all there."

"What's brilittes?" Kyla asked. Mirana sighed. "Bad news, I'm afraid," she said. "It's quite rare, thankfully, but when it does strike, it strikes full-force. I hate to say it, darling, but unfortunately, the next several days or so are going to be rather unpleasant for you while I work on putting together the potion that will cure it."

_"Days?!"_ Hatta shouted. Mirana put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Tarrant, you know I don't keep the ingredients in my storeroom because of how difficult some of them can be to get. McTwisp, that's where you come in."  
"Me? Why me?"

"Partly because you gave her the germ in the first place, so it's only right that you help make her well again, and partly because you know the land better than anyone else, so you're the only one who knows where to find the things I'll need."  
"Make Tarrant do it, she's his daughter!"

"Why ye-"  
"The best place for Tarrant to be is right here _with_his daughter. Sending him off won't do either of them any good, he'll be too distracted with worry to focus long enough to find anything, and she'll no doubt want her father more than she'll want anybody else, especially when she wakes up screaming and crying. It's no use arguing this with me, McTwisp, I have made my decision and nothing that you say is going to make me change it, that is final. You shall set out first thing in the morning-"

"Why not have him go right now?" Hatta interjected. "The sooner he gets gone, the quicker you'll be able to make this darn potion and the faster Kyla gets well again."  
"You know how dangerous it is out there at night, Tarrant."

Hatta's eyes swirled as his emotions and paternal instincts all kicked in at once and began fighting within him. Finally, he managed to get out a breathy, slightly raspy, "Fine." After blinking a few times, his eyes returned to their usual green, though perhaps a bit muddier than normal. Mirana put her hand back on his shoulder. Sensing what was about to happen, he beat her to it. "It's no use trying to convince me to leave, I'm staying right here in case she needs me."

"I don't want you to get sick, as well," the Queen said gently. One corner of Hatta's mouth twitched slightly. "I'm staying," he repeated. The finality in his voice made her decide it would be best not to push it, so she merely said, "Very well. I shall come in to check on you both and bring you breakfast tomorrow morning. Goodnight, Tarrant."  
"Goodnight."

As Mirana was leaving, she could make out the sound of Hatta singing softly behind the closed door. If she listened closely enough, she could just make out enough words to recognize it as something she'd heard his mother sing to her children several times.

_"See, O see the breaking day, _  
_How the dew drop decks the thorn, _  
_Hov'ring low the skylarks lay, _  
_Long preluding meets the morn, _  
_Hark! the liquid notes awake anew, _  
_Rising sweeter with the rising dew, _  
_Rising sweeter with the rising dew. _

_"Come, my love, and drink the sound, _  
_Ere the dazzling sun appears; _  
_While the drooping flow'ret round _  
_Bends with nature's early tears, _  
_Poising, as she mounts with humid wings, _  
_Still above her lowly nest she sings, _  
_O'er her lowly nest she sings. _

_"Now the dappled clouds among, _  
_Sweet and clear ascends the lay; _  
_Come before the plumy throng, _  
_Wake to hail the king of day! _  
_Warbling louder still, she mounts alone, _  
_Near and nearer to his amber throne. _  
_Nearer to his amber throne. _

_"See the blazing gates unfold, _  
_See his radiant head appear! _  
_Through yon op'ning clouds of gold _  
_Still the less'ning note we hear. _  
_Sinking softly with the sinking strain _  
_See her seek her lowly nest again, _  
_See her seek her nest again." _

* * *

**AN: Okay, that song was another traditional Scottish song, and it's called "The Rising of the Lark." I just thought it was really pretty and I've been looking for a way to throw it into this story for the past couple chapters or so, and I finally managed to figure out how to do that, so yay! n_n**

**For those wondering (and I'm sure that some of you ARE wondering) who Edan is, in my head, that's the name of one of Hatta's older brothers. I actually used Famiy Echo to make the family tree that I envision for Kyla in this story, and on Hatta's side, she has a grand total of five uncles, including Edan, and five aunts, including Nettenia, who, in case you've forgotten, is the one whose clothes Hatta managed to salvage on the Horuvendush Day and gave to Kyla in the...second chapter, I think it was?  
**

**So, including Hatta, his parents had eleven kids. ELEVEN. Wow. To be totally honest, I actually didn't bother counting when I made them up, I just knew I wanted a bunch, so I gathered a bunch of Scottish names that I liked from the site where I got Kyla's, decided Hatta would be the youngest, figured out who I wanted to go where as far as who was older/younger than who, threw everything together, and boom, Kyla's got ten aunts and uncles not including Margaret and Lowell (the latter of whom everybody hates anyway, so whatevs). :/ XD  
**

**Speaking of grabbing Scottish names, the middle name that I gave Hatta? Lyall? Scots-Celt for "loyal." :) It seemed VERY fitting for him, so I just HAD to pick that one. n_n  
**

**One more thing real quick, then I promise I'll shut up, lol! PX  
**

**Hatta's eye colors in this:  
**

**Dark purple is for rage (at McTwisp) and deep devotion/compassion (for Kyla, obviously). The light gray is for fear, and the sulfur yellow is because he's ill at ease.  
**


	7. Stories

**AN: Short filler chapter! Ugh, okay, so you know how sometimes you're writing something and you've got stuff planned out in your head and you're working on it, and then all of a sudden, the characters are all like, "Nu! We wanna go DIS way instead!" and so then they grab it right out of your hands and take off running in some totally random direction that is NOT the direction you had wanted to go, and you're just left standing there like, "Um, guys? Bring it back? Please? Guys?"**

**Well, that's what ended up happening with this story.**

**There are only a couple more chapters or so left, then an epilgogue, and I swear to God, I DID NOT intend for this to be so short, I had originally wanted this to be at LEAST twenty chapters long, maybe more, but no. Tarrant and his daughter just HAD to steal things from me, didn't they? And then Alice showed up and she was like, "Hey guys, I found a GREAT place to take it, follow me!" and so the three of them just took off running and I was like, "SERIOUSLY, YOU GUYS?!"**

**So yeah. Short chapter is short and weird story is almost over. :/**

**-Maggie  
**

* * *

As the days passed, Kyla slowly began to get better. Hatta stayed with her as much as he could during the day, and slept in a chair at her bedside when night fell. He told her stories about what his life had been like before the Horuvendush Day, and how he and his brother Jamie were always engaged in an on-going prank war with each other, never knowing when or where or how the next move would be made.

Sometimes he'd ask questions about Aboveground; what it was like, how it was different from Underland, so on and so forth. Kyla laughed at his expression when she told him about what Helen had done the one time she'd come downstairs wearing a waistcoat she'd found that had belonged to her late grandfather. Helen hadn't thrown a fit because the waistcaot had been Charles', but because Kyla had been wearing, God forbid, men's clothing.

And then, at last, the day came that Mirana came into the room beaming to announce that they no longer needed to go Aboveground, because there were reports from Absolem that Alice had been seen near one of McTwisp's holes recently.

Hatta's disposition became considerably happier at this news.

* * *

**AN: SHORTEST FILLER EVER, RIGHT? Ugh. Okay, so the next chapter is where things start wrapping up and blah blah blah, the good news is that it will not take that long for updates now, because I already have it finished on paper, which means that - Oh, screw it. ALICE, TARRANT, KYLA, BRING THE DAMN PLOT BACK ALREADY! *chases after them***

**Disclaimer: See last chapter, I'm too busy CHASING A CERTAIN FAMILY TO GET MY PLOTLINE BACK to do it right now. GUUUUUUUYS! *grabs the back of Kyla's blouse*  
**


	8. A Ring and a Reunion

**AN: WELL, these three Mad Ones STILL won't give me back my damn plotline, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. *huffs* But, anyway, yeah. Stuff starts wrapping up and such, so...yeah.**

* * *

"Hatta," a voice said.

His eyes opened and he looked around. It was a very familiar Voice that he would know anywhere and would respond to even when the Madness took over his mind. But he could not find its Owner, which he wanted more than anything else in the world, just as he had wanted it for the past fifteen years or so. He frowned as he looked about, trying to find Voice's Owner.

"Hatta," Voice repeated with a slight giggle that he found very pretty indeed. He glanced at Kyla's sleeping form, then got up from his chair and began searching for Voice's Owner. Finally, he moved towards Kyla's wardrobe opened it up.

Alice threw herself at him and kissed his cheek. He frowned in confusion. "How on earth did you -"

"I snuck in and hid while you were gone earlier," she interrupted, brown eyes glinting mischeviously. Hatta smiled more widely than he had in years. "Clever Alice!" he said. Then their eyes met and their smiles slowly faded.

"I've known it many times," he said quietly. Alice's lips parted slightly and she lowered her eyes a bit. "I thought as much," she said, her voice just as soft as his. "Then why didn't -" He stopped himself there and frowned. "Oh. That's right."

"It was the thought of seeing you again that's kept me hopeful and stopped me from giving up after all this time," Alice told him. "You and Kyla and six impossible things per day. Ever since she was born, I've seen you every time I look at her, and it's always made me horribly sad until now."  
"Mum? S'at you?"

They both turned. Alice smiled, immediately going to hug her daughter. "I'm here," she said. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better than I was three days ago," Kyla replied. She looked at her father and smiled knowingly. "Well? Aren't you going to ask her, Dadaí?" she asked him. Alice looked at Kyla, then Hatta. "Ask me what? What's she on about, Tarrant?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "It can wait a bit longer. Besides, I haven't even got -Well, Kyla knows. Right now, I'm curious about how you escaped to come here."

Kyla grinned and leaned forward eagerly. "Yes, tell us about that!" she cried. Alice laughed lightly. "Well, I -" Before she could get any further than that, the door opened and the Tweedles came running in, Thackery close behind, all three of them going straight for Alice, Thack jumping into her lap and hugging her around the neck while 'Dee and 'Dum hugged her legs.

"We've missed ya, lass," Thack said. Alice giggled as she returned his hug. "I've missed all of you, too," she said. Mally crept in and jumped onto Kyla's nightstand. She looked at her best friend, the one and only Mad Hatter, then at Alice, then back again. She sighed quietly.

"'Atta," she said, "you an' Alice go catch up. I'll keep an eye on Kyla for ya." Hatta and Alice looked at each other. "Are you sure, Mally?" the latter asked. The Dormouse nodded. "You two go on," she said. "Ya've both more'n earned it, an' besides, I know 'Atta well enough ta see'at 'e's itchin' ta talk t'ya in private, though I gots no clue what 'bout."

Hatta smiled at her gratefully. "Thank you," he mouthed. Alice got down on Mally's level and gave her a quick peck on top of her head in the space between her ears. "Thanks for everything, Mally," she said. Then she stood and took the hand that Hatta held out to her, following him out into the hall.

Thack, 'Dee, and 'Dum stayed a bit longer before they also went on their way. When they were gone, Mally sat on the edge of the nightstand and sighed, putting her head in her paws. Kyla threw her a sidways glance from where she was propped up in bed. "You alright?" the girl asked. Mally shrugged.

"Bit disappointed, but I'll get ovah it, luv," she replied. Kyla knit her brow up in confusion. "Disappointed about what?" she asked. Mally glanced at her and bit her lower lip, then sighed. "Don't tell no one," she said at last, "but I always 'ad a bit of a crush on ya dad. I know it'd nevah work, me bein' a mouse an' 'im bein...well, not, but..."

Another sigh. "I guess I jus' can't keep mahself from wishin', y'know? But as sad as it makes me, I'm also kinda 'appy. I mean, 'e's my friend an' I'm glad 'e's 'appy, but then also if 'e 'adn't picked ya mum, ya wouldn't be 'ere, now, would ya? Ya look like ya aunt Nettie in th' face, y'know. 'As 'e told ya that?"

Kyla nodded. "Several times, yes," she said. "And I promise not to tell a soul, Mally. I give you my word on my honor as the Champion's daughter. So, I hear you had a sister. Larani, right? Tell me about her, will you?"

* * *

After running into his rooms to get something, which he put into an inner pocket before heading back out into the hall where Alice was waiting, Hatta led her outside and they wandered out of the castle walls, walking around in the beautiful valley that the palace rested in, talking as they had all those years ago, catching up and laughing and joking and falling back into their old ways together with absolutely no trouble at all.

Then Hatta stopped suddenly beneath one of the pink-blossomed trees that were all over in the valley, turning to face Alice as he took both her hands in his.

"Alice," he said, "Time has not been any kinder to me since you left than he was being before you came to slay the Jabberwocky. He had still been keeping me in that strange...limbo...at the tea table until Kyla showed up. But being trapped by him in that place he makes me go into, it...it let me...it gave me a chance to think about some things that had happend, and it let me...No, it _helped_ me figure out what it is exactly that I want. It gave me a chance to consider what I ought to say to you when you came back, and right when I at last had it all figured out, you send Kyla along in your place. But you're here now, so -"

He fumbled through his inner pocket for a moment, then pulled out a slightly tarnished pale gold ring. The top of it had been shaped into a rose, and in the center of the rose, there was a small diamond.

"Ha - Tarrant..."  
"Alice, I -"  
"Do you even have to ask?"  
"I...Wait,_ do _I?"

"No! Of course you don't! Lord, Tarrant, I've known the answer since before I even realized I was going to have a baby. Yes! A hundred thousand times yes!"

His eyes shifted and became a mixture of several different colors at once, mainly various shades of pink, then a huge grin broke out across his face. "Callou, callay!" he shouted, sweeping her up and spinning around in a circle.

"Oh, you have absolutely no idea how happy you've just made me, this is just wonderful, it's -"  
"Hatta!"

He blinked. "Thank you," he said. "I'm fine. Oh! I almost forgot! This is yours." He smiled and slipped the ring onto her finger. "It was my aunt's," he said. "I think she would've wanted you to have it. You would have liked her very much, she had more Madness in her than me and all ten of my older siblings put together."

"I remember you telling me about her," Alice said through her light giggles. Her eyes lit up suddenly as an odd look crossed her face. "I've just had an Idea," she said, "a Crazy, Mad, Wonderful Idea! Let's go back in so I can tell you and Kyla both at the same time. I'll prove things to Mother yet, Hatta. She's going to regret ever calling me a madwoman by the time everything is said and done, I guarantee it."

* * *

**AN: Oh, Alice, dear, what have you planned?**

**Anyone who sees what I did there will get points and a cookie!**

**ANYWAY, I am going to post a link to Alice's engagement ring on my profile. The only thing I changed about its appearance for the story is the color. The one I found online is a rather DARK gold, but for whatever reason, I found the pale gold to be more appropriate, so...yeah.  
**

**UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGG GHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.  
**

**That's what I have to say about that.  
**

**See last chapter for the disclaimer.  
**

**God, I feel like there was something else I wanted to say, but I don't know what it was...um...**

***beats head against wall for the next several hours or so* **

**...Yeah, I got nothing. Whatever, if I can't remember, then it must now have been that important anyway, so whatever, just forget it.  
**

**WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO.  
**

**I'm sorry, I had Tea yesterday and wore a Hat, plus today was kind of a long day for me, so I'm kind of KONKY and WACKY and OFF MY ROCKER today, AND I DON'T MEAN IN THE HATTER'S WAY, EITHER, PEOPLE.  
**

**OH LOOK AT THAT, DINNER!  
**

***goes to eat it*  
**

***comes back*  
**

**Okay, I'm done with that.  
**

**OKAY, I'M SHUTTING UP NOW, FAIRFARREN, MAH PRETTIES!  
**

**-Maggie  
**


	9. Bringer of Hope

**AN: Last chapter before the epilogue! Anyway, just gonna go ahead and warn you that this one has a kind of awkward ending, but I blame Hatta for that one. As he and the girls were running off with the plot, he apparently stopped all of a sudden and said, "Side path! Let's go!" And so they took off onto this narrow little pathetic excuse of a not-even-a-path and ended up getting a little lost before they found their way back to the main path, and that's how pretty much this entire chapter came about.**

**So blame Tarrant, not me. *insert cheesy grin here*  
**

**Disclaimer: See last chapter.  
**

**PS: POINTS AND A COOKIE TO ANYONE WHO CAN FIND THE REFERENCE TO "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST" IN HERE, IT'S VERY CLOSE TO THE BEGINNING, IT'S LYRICS FROM ONE OF THE BEST SONGS IN BOTH THE MOVIE AND THE MUSCIAL, IT'S LUMIERE'S LINE, THAT'S ALL I'M GONNA SAY, NOW FIND IT!  
**

* * *

"Underland, it is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that I proudly present to you Sir Tarrant and Lady Alice Hightopp!"

As Mirana's words rang out through the garden, everyone stood up and began clapping. Out of everyone present, Kyla's smile was by far the biggest, and she couldn't repress a stream of giggles from escaping her throat as she stood there with Mally on her shoulder, the Tweedles on either side of her, Thackery and Nivens in front of her, and Chessur hovering in the air just above her head.

After the reception (Oh, how beautiful it was!), Mirana activated the Looking Glass and went with Alice, Hatta, and Kyla (still with Mally on her shoulder) through it. The room they ended up in had only one other person in it, and she faced away from them until Alice said her name.

Margaret whirled around, gasping as her hand flew to her breastbone. "Alice, Kyla! What - How - Where -"

"Are Faith and Fiona around by any chance?"  
"As it just so happens. Alice, I don't understand, what -"

"Alice!"

She and Kyla ran to embrace the Chattaways. "Is that...?" one twin began, noticing the Queen and Hatter, as well as the Dormouse on Kyla's shoulder. Mother and daughter exchanged knowing smiles. "Let's go find Grandmother," Kyla said. "We'll tell everyone all about it."

* * *

Helen's eyes about popped out of their sockets when she saw her daughter and granddaughter enter the room, one with a mouse on her shoulder, the other talking amiably with the Chattaways and a strange pale woman, and both of them holding hands with the strangest man Helen had ever laid eyes on dressed in a kilt and practically a grown male version of Kyla, gap-toothed grin and all.

Margaret followed the parade in a state of obviously dazed confusion. Kyla let go of the man's hand and walked up to Helen, looking her directly in the eyes.

"Grandmother, for thirteen years now, you've denied the existence of Underland and everything and everyone in it, including my father. However, after today, you shall be able to do this no longer, for Mum and I now come to you bringing with us living, breathing, physical, undeniable proof of it all." She turned and nodded to her mother. "Mum, you may take things from here."

Alice took her daughter's place in front of Helen.

"Mother, it is with an overwhelming amount of pride and pleasure that I introduce you to Her Royal Majesty the White Queen Mirana of Marmoreal, Madame Knight Mallymkun the Dormouse, and last but most certainly not least, Kyla's father and my husband, Sir Tarrant Hightopp of Witzend, Royal Hatter to Her Majesty Queen Mirana, Respected Member of the High Court of Marmoreal, Hero in Respect to the Frabjous Day, and Sole Horuvendush Survivor of the Hightopp Clan of Witzend, also known as the Mad Hatter or simply Hatta."

"I call him Dadaí," Kyla said as she hugged his waist. He smiled and put an arm around her shoulders. Mally took the opportunity to run up his arm and onto his shoulder, then climbed up to the brim of his hat and sat down next to the 6/10 card that was always tucked into the faded sash tied around the Hatter's hat.

"Alice Marie!" Helen sputtered. Mirana came forward, head held high and regally.  
"With all due respect, ma'am, speaking as both Queen and friend to all three members of the family you see here before you today, I, among many others, feel that it would be in the best interest for not only all of them, but others as well, if Alice and Kyla came to live in Underland, more specifically, in my Court at times and in Witzend at others, just as Tarrant has been doing for years now, and, of course, with him. And, since Alice is, after all, the Champion, it is naturally expected that she may be needed from time to time in the future."

Helen wasn't sure how to respond to this, so she instead turned her attention to the Hatter. "You are my granddaughter's father, sir?" she said. Hatta looked up and met her eyes, flashing a grin at her. "That would be I," he said. Helen looked back and forth between father and daughter. "Mother," Alice said finally, "you can't deny it, honestly! I mean, look at them! It's absolutely impossible to ignore the resemblance between them, for Lord's sake!"

Mally stood up on the brim of Hatta's hat to add her input, as well. "If I may, ma'am," she said. "I've known 'Atta for a very long time, 'e's my best friend in all the world. I knew 'im when we woz both very young, an' I knew all ten of 'is big brothahs an' sistahs 'afore they all gone an' died on th' 'Oruvendush Day, bless all their souls. Now, this bein' th' case, ma'am, you can take my word for it when I says'at Kyla 'ere, she looks jus' like one'a 'Atta's sistahs in th' face. Got Nettie's eyeshape an' chin, she does, an' othah things, as well."

When Helen didn't respond right away, Kyla took the chance to speak up. "Grandmother?" she said, taking Helen's hands in her own.

"Mum and I both love Dadaí very much. They're already married, and we have so many wonderful friends in Underland. We fit in there more than we ever have here. It's where we belong, our home has always been there with Dadaí and Aunt Mirana and everyone else. I'd be very sad if I couldn't be there always. It's where my roots are, you know."

Helen sighed. "A Scotsman," she breathed, eying Hatta's kilt. "As am I, technically speaking," Kyla said, going back to her father's side again and taking his hand in hers. Hatta's eyes became a deep emerald shade of green.

"Strong an' proud an' stubborn as all 'ell we can be, tha lo' of us," he said, one corner of his mouth twitching up a bit higher than the other. And then, for the first time in her life, Kyla's eye color began to shift until it matched Hatta's. For the first time ever in all her thirteen years, a Scottish accent entered her voice as she spoke.

"Tha's wha's kept so maneh great clans goin' for so long, Ah bet," she said. Hatta's mouth gave another slight twitch. "Aye," he agreed. "Tha' an' sheer loyalty, lass."

"Kyla -!"

The cry came from her grandmother and aunt in the same instant, both shocked at the sudden changes in her voice and eyes. Mirana stepped in before anyone could get provoked by anyone else's words or actions.

"As Queen of Underland, I hereby declare that from this day forth, Alice shall be known as Lady Alice Hightopp from Aboveground, Champion of the High Court of Marmoreal, Slayer of the Jabberwocky, and Savior of All Underland. Furthermore, her daughter shall bear the title Lady Kyla Hightopp of Witzend and Aboveground, Respected Member of the High Court of Marmoreal, and Bringer of Hope."

She wasn't sure what the last part meant, but the Hatter's daughter held her head high, silently vowing to bear the title her Queen had just bestowed upon her as all Hightopps had born their respective titles before her, including her father, and that was with pride, dignity, and undying loyalty to her Queen and Court.

* * *

**AN: See, what'd I tell ya? Awkward ending is awkward. *ducks down, then comes back up wearing my Blackwatch kilt and a pair of Argyle socks***

AH BLAME THA' BLUDDEH 'ATTAH! 'E'S THA ONE'AT TOOK THA' DAMN SIDE-PATH!

*goes back normal but doesn't change back into my regular clothes, grins*

**I gots Scottish ancestors, can ya tell? The Argyll branch of the Campbell Clan to be exact, and to be even more specific, the DUKES of that region. Anyway, Blackwatch is the name of the tartan that they use and I actually do have a Blackwatch kilt, which is PRETTY freaking awesome. I love wearing it. n_n**

**WOO****OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.**

**UGH, I'm sorry, I had to stay after school and retake a chemistry test that I failed today, so I'm like TOTALLY brain-dead right now, I had trouble concentrating on the computer screen long enough to even finish getting this chapter and the epilogue off the page and into type, and so I'm just like out of it right now, I'm sorry if I seem wackier than I usually do.**

**So, anyway, yeah, I'll get the epilogue up in the next few minutes or so because it's already typed, so all I have to do with it now is get it into the Doc Manager, do some editing, type up the ANs for it and BAM, this story will be OUTTA HERE!**

**Okay, I'll shut up now. XD**

**-Maggie  
**


	10. Epilogue

**AN: Short epilogue is short. And so is short AN. O.O**

**Disclaimer: STILL NOT MINE, PRETTIES!  
**

* * *

Shortly after returning home, Kyla began learning her family's trade under her father's watch and instruction. When they did return, it was with the Chattaway twins in tow. Otherwise, Kyla's time was spent either wandering about the palace grounds or exploring with Mally or the Tweedles, sometimes all of them. When they lived in Witzend instead of the Court, practically all of her time was spent at the tea table with her parents and friends.

Faith and Fiona ended up becoming Mirana's two closest ladies-in-waiting and formed a strong friendship with the White Queen. By the time her fourteenth birthday came around, Kyla had a baby brother with reddish-blonde hair and brown eyes flecked with green. He was named Aluinn Charles, after one of Hatta's uncles and Alice's father.

"Because you brought it to us all and, more importantly, your father when he needed it most as far as your mother's return was concerned," was Mirana's response when Kyla asked her about what the "Bringer of Hope" in her title meant.

And for the first time in her entire life, Kyla finally felt as if the part of her that had always been missing was at long last present within her. She finally felt truly content with her life, and she knew she'd finally found her home.

And everyone was at last at peace as everything at last settled into place and the world was at last as it was meant to be.

* * *

**AN: AND THAT'S A WRAP, PEOPLE.  
**

**Fairfarren all. **

**HATTA, I'M STILL EFFING PISSED AT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY FOR WHAT YOU DID, YA HEAR ME?! *goes chasing after him again*  
**


End file.
